Joggers slowed their pace and walkers came to a stop late Thursday afternoon to watch the wondrous sight of mist appearing to simultaneously rise from the spouts of three whales that were swimming south off Del Mar. The spray was more visible than usual because another day of offshore winds has largely scrubbed the skies of clouds, and the setting sun illuminated the drops of water rising from the animal's spouts.

It's not unusual to see such mist, especially when gray whales are migrating to the warm water lagoons of Baja California, as they are now. But it's somewhat uncommon to see mist repeatedly going up from three closely grouped whales, at roughly the same moment, over the space of a half hour or so. The whales could be seen angling from Del Mar to La Jolla from roughly 3 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Mark Short of Solana Beach, who was out for a walk on the Del Mar bluffs, said, "The whales are out there having fun, playing in the sun, like everyone else. A couple of them are fully getting out of the water and making big splashes."

It wasn't possible to easily identify the species of whale; they were quite far from shore. Even then, you have to know what you're looking at. Naturalist Esta Lee Albright says online, "Generally, the size and shape of the spout can identify the species of large whale (dolphins' spouts are so short and quick as to be hard to see even up close). Gray whales have short bushy spouts. Because we see gray whales in migration we often see a whale from directly in front or behind, and the two distinct spouts are obvious before the white vapor blends together in a rather heart-shaped cloud. Humpback whales also have a roundish, plume-like blow, but it is taller and it rightfully seems to have more power; the humpback may be 20 feet longer and 20 tons heavier than the Gray. Exhaled air may be rushing out the blowholes at 300 miles per hour. The Fin whale spout looks much like an exclamation point, tall and straight but seeming to taper at the bottom. As with everything about the swift Fin, the spout seems emphatic with force."